mAdNeSs: Marvel's Story
by CrazyFaerieSoul
Summary: Companion 3-shot to The After Gate; also works as standalone. No one really knew him... No one bothered. He was just the idiot- or was he? -from District One. Marvel's story... so well hidden from the world until one nameless dark-eyed girl one day happened to walk into his soul.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi! Quickie intro: this is a three part spin-off/companion story of/for The After Gate. It is set in the same universe. I don't know about you but I think the goof from District One deserves his story told!**

 **Disclaimer: I didn't invent the Hunger Games. I didn't invent Marvel. Su Collins did. All hail Su for letting us stick our fingers in her pie.**

 **Part 1**

 _Hey! What's the circumstance_

 _you'll never be great without taking a chance so_

 _Wait, you waited too long_

 _had your hands in your pockets when you shoulda been gone_

 _ **~Shinedown**_

Marvel saw her for the first time in the Tribute Parade. She was dark and tall yet somewhat unexceptional, swathed in aqua-blue, shimmery long veil whipping in the wind. Really, the only thing about her that made any impression on him was her sizable crown; sparkly blue, encrusted in pearls and shiny stones and topped in more pearls.

Marvel met her for the first time in the Training Center. She was from District Four, he gathered. She appeared to know exactly who she was and what she wanted and thus was not to be messed with. He paid little attention to the quiet lanky girl.

Marvel noticed her the first time on the brightly lit Interview stage and his world changed forever.

Marvel fell.

She was standing, walking up for her interview with Caesar Flickerman. She was wearing a floaty pink dress adorned with sheer pink roses and he liked how that looked, how the rosy pale shade brought out the smooth dark tan of her legs, the slant of her cheekbones.

He figured he'd never see her in a dress again, so he memorized everything about her, how she looked that night. How her eyelids shimmered over dark reticent eyes. How her waist curved, hugged by that soft glowy fabric. How her black hair curled softly against her bare smooth shoulders. How her voice was pleasant but wary as she talked with Caesar.

He stored it all away safely in his head, because he wanted to remember her. He felt her gravity and it pulled at him.

He needed her closer, very close, so that he could be grounded, like she was, so that the churning inside him would let up. It was idiotic, definitely. But then again it wouldn't be his first time an idiot, would it? And certainly not his last.

As she went back to her seat beside the boy from Four he thought she looked a little unsure and he wanted to run to her, to tell her she had nothing to worry about, that she had it all together, whereas he was just a scattered, stupid loser, a tangle of confusion.

…...

Lots of noise. That was always how he remembered that first day of the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games. It started with the boom of the cannon and didn't let up until the majority of tributes were dead or had fled from the vicinity of that evil, hulking Cornucopia.

He looked for her after the violence subsided, but she wasn't anywhere. Not with the dead; not with the living that he could see.

It wasn't as if he could see many. Glimmer, of course, who had come with him from One. (She was mean, could always make him feel lower than dust with a single word.) Cato, big, strong, always angry, and Clove, small insignificant, both from Two.

They started away from the bloody mess, into the woods, and Marvel was glad for Cato's automatic leadership. He didn't know where to go first; he didn't want to make the decisions- he never made the right ones, which ended up in him being laughed at, usually. This time he could end up being killed, which was almost as fearsome.

The little group didn't get very far before he heard a shout, and his heart flipped as he recognized that voice from the night before. She ran up, breathless; dark hair tangled, dark eyes wild.

She did not look so grounded anymore, but he could still feel it, her gravity- it was still there. It settled around her, settled him.

Naturally he spouted the first stupid thing that came to mind, and definitely the worst. "Where's your little buddy?"

Her gaze met his for the first time and his breath hitched, because her eyes were so deadly, yet so beautiful. Just like her voice when she answered; _The Cornucopia._ After that he tried to shut up because he didn't really want her mad with him; he just wanted her with him.

…...

That night was strange, the strangest he'd ever experienced so far. Faces of the fallen tributes flashed over the sky and he remembered killing some of them, and then he wondered why he felt so wrong about that, for doing what he'd been taught to do. It was unfair, really.

They lay on the hard forest ground, jackets or arms for pillows, and he lay listening to the shifting and rustling as everyone (except Cato, who had the first watch) tried unsuccessfully to get comfortable. He was about to drift off, lack of a real bed notwithstanding, when he heard the tiniest whimper and knew promptly where it came from.

She was crying.

Why was she crying?

…...

They killed another tribute early the next morning. Well, Cato did, mostly. Marvel didn't get to help much.

After that they didn't accomplish much. Clove knifed some squirrels for lunch and the meat wasn't as disgusting as he'd expected.

The Girl- they'd started calling her Four, after her district- was unhappy. He could sense it. Under her defensive sparring with Clove and Glimmer, he could see brokenness.

Once he fell in step with her. She saw that he was watching her and gave him gave him a _What do you think you're doing?_ look but he was on a mission. He ducked his head, being so much taller than her, and asked quietly, "What's wrong?"

"What are you talking about?" she hissed back, darting glances at their traveling companions.

"You were crying last night and you keep trying not to, today," he told her.

She gave him another look, decidedly more evil than the last. "You probably killed him yourself. Quit talking to me."

"The boy from your district?" he asked, hoping she noticed how quickly he'd figured that out.

She tramped on sullenly. Even in her turmoil, she had a calming effect, he thought. She made him feel... okay.

Okay was good.

"Yes," he said, still quietly, "I did." He waited for the condemnation, for her to hit him, to glare him down, to tell him what an incredible idiot he was. Which he was of course. He had forgotten, in the Arena, that he was supposed to be teamed up with the Four tributes. It was just the sort of thing you would expect from Marvel. Stupid boy.

"He was my cousin," she whispered. Her breath jerked a bit. She gave him a level stare. "I will never forgive you. Ever."

...?

No name-calling? No belittling tones?

"You're unbelievable," he said, admiring.

She huffed and looked away.

But he saw. He saw the tiny flame of laughter in her eyes. He smiled, because it felt like victory, even if it was just for now, this moment.

This moment was fine with him.

…...

…...

She didn't know why she was drawn to him but nothing else made sense anymore either. She couldn't see him as a killer but she didn't know why. He had murdered the one person she had sworn to protect, and she was having a very hard time pinning the blame on him.

Because every time she looked at him, she didn't see heartlessness, or brutality. She saw confusion.

Confusion, and- strangely- innocence.

 _ **One push is all you'll need...**_

 _ **a fist-first philosophy..**_

 _ **We watch with wounded eyes...**_

 _ **so I hope you recognize...**_

 _~ **Shinedown**_


	2. Part 2

**A/N: Thank you for your reveiws. =)**

 **Disclaimer: Not mine. Suzy's.**

 **Part Two**

… **...**

 _Damn! Damn it all down_

 _took one to the chest without making a sound so_

 _What! What are you worth?_

 _The things you love or the people you hurt?_

 _ **~Shinedown**_

… _ **...**_

Clunk.

Marvel opened his eyes with a yelp and saw Cato's boot. Starting the day with a kick. It wasn't the first time he'd done that. And on the up side, he'd survived the second night of the Games, which must count for something.

He made a discontented noise to appease Cato but tuned out the other boy's angry remarks and stumbled into the woods for privacy, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes so he could see.

It would not do to get lost, as he so often had during training in District One. It would be just the sort of thing expected of him- losing his way- but he tried not to live up to those kinds of expectations. Not that he succeeded often but still. The effort had to amount to something, however little.

So he didn't go far through the trees and he didn't dawdle, heading back as soon as he'd relieved himself. His thoughts kept him so thoroughly occupied that he almost ran her down. The Girl.

"Hey," she said, by way of warning, but he was walking fast and she'd surprised him, so they knocked into each other anyway.

She frowned at him and backed up quickly, shooting him wary glances. Marvel supposed he should have offered a steadying hand, but he was too startled; besides, his experience with females was limited.

"Hi," he greeted her, offering a tentative smile. She was having an odd effect on his chest and he couldn't come up with a single smart comment, so, true to form, he said the single most stupid instead.

"Have a good night?"

She looked so utterly unbelieving of what she'd just heard that he tried to figure out what he'd done wrong now. Nothing, so far as he could see. He gave her a puzzled look.

"I had guard duty," she reminded him, again with a surprising lack of belittlement.

"Right," he agreed, feeling even dumber than usual.

She stepped away, heading past him.

Marvel grabbed her arm. "That's the wrong direction," he told her. "The camp is over there." He pointed.

She gave him a faintly exasperated look. "I know."

An idea dawned. "Are you running away already?" _Please don't._

"Even I'm not that dumb." She arched her brows. True. Staying in a group was safer.

"You're right," he said thoughtfully. "That's more the kind of thing I'd do."

She gave him a surprised, calculating look. "Can I go now?"

"Where?"

"I have an _errand,"_ she said crossly, turning a little pink.

"Oh," he said, catching on, and released her without delay.

He entirely missed the odd look on her face as she watched him lope back to camp.

…...

After breakfast Cato ordered them all back to the Cornucopia. He said it would be an ideal place for a base camp.

So now they were trudging back the way they'd come, shoulders aching under the supply packs they carried.

"Watch it, clumsy!" snapped Glimmer. Marvel had bumped into her. Meekly he stepped away.

Marvel looked at the sky. It burned blue and brilliant, an unyielding color that hurt your eyes if you stared too long.

"How long is this going to take?" whined Glimmer, tossing her hair in that spoiled, entitled way.

Glimmer. She'd been raised in fields of plenty, that one. Everything came easily for her, the girl who bossed him relentlessly. She'd been taught she deserved better than the common populace, and so far, that was what she'd gotten. Spoiled by her parents, who considered themselves and their offspring to be a couple notches more elite than the rest of District One. Always handed the best on well-polished silver platters, from clothes and nail polish to private tutors and personal trainers. Always treated with utmost respect.

Respect. A foreign element. How strange it would be to have such a thing at your command. Maybe, if he could win the Games...

But he doubted he could.

So why was he here? He'd volunteered, without any expectations of winning.

Because he wanted people to notice him in a good way for a change. He was tired of being struck and yelled at for his mistakes, with no recognition of his accomplishments.

Not that there were many of that last. The only thing he excelled at was making children laugh. He was good with children; he liked them and they liked him.

That one little green-eyed girl- Glimmer's younger sister, ironically- had been his particular pet. She shadowed him everywhere, golden curls swinging down to her slim, straight young waistline. Her parents were too focused on their perfect older daughter to pay attention to their lonely six-year-old. Otherwise they'd probably have found her a more fitting playmate than a teenaged goof-off like himself.

As it was, the two were great pals. She visited him at his school; he shared his lunch and she shared funny stories about the mutiple stupid maids and the stiff old butler at the mansion where she lived, or her small white pet puppy, or the birds she secretly let in an attic window to feed sugar biscuit crumbs.

Sometimes she was sad, and told him her mummy had yelled at her that morning, and she cried a little on his sleeve. Then she wiped her eyes and asked for more chocolate tart. She adored chocolate.

He wasn't overly fond of it, but he always carried some, for her.

Her name was Lumiera. But he called her Sparkles. She was a very special little girl.

He shouldn't have left her, for any reason. And now, he couldn't turn back.

He looked at the tall dark Girl from Four and thought she might like Sparkles. The Girl seemed the kind of person who'd like children too. She just gave off that aura. Something about the way she'd behaved when talking about her little cousin.

The one he had killed.

…...

"What's your name?" he asked her, watching a breeze play with her hair. Too bad he wasn't wind. Then he could touch the fine dark strands too.

She didn't appear too surprised at his words. "Why would I tell you?"

He thought about it. "Because I said please?"

"You didn't say please."

"Please. Now I did." He winked, clownishly rather than cockily.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him sideways toward her. He looked at her in surprise.

"Hole," she said, pointing.

So there was. A deep one, and narrow. He could have sprained an ankle.

"Thank you," he said, bowing.

She smiled a little bit. Serenely. "Marina."

"Marina?"

"Because of my District."

 _District Four..._ "Fishing?" He didn't get it. Being this near her made him feel strong and peaceful... and a little fuzzy in the head. "That doesn't make sense."

"Well, I answered." She walked away. He watched her go.

He liked the way she moved.

…...

Darkness came. They found the Cornucopia. They left again. Hunting for Katniss Everdeen, the Girl on Fire. Hunting for somebody, anybody, to kill.

Marvel was tired. It was nearly midnight. He wanted to collapse.

The girls argued. They were tired. Very irritable.

Marvel wanted the Girl- Marina- closer. Calmer. He felt his own shaky stability waning and his mind scrambling with tiredness. He needed somebody to bring him some semblance of gravity again.

Then Cato told them to get some sleep and the entire group wasted no time finding positions on the ground.

That was when she crawled up beside him and tucked herself in close, head resting very near his shoulder. So close, he could smell her.

And he wasn't sure if he could sleep at all.

…...

…...

She lay quietly next to him feeling almost safe, wondering what her mother and father were doing. Sleeping, probably. She hoped they didn't worry about her a lot, especially her father. He was a worrier, a sober fisherman. Her mother was a doer, a worker, an accomplisher.

She missed them.

She sighed, picturing their faces. So caring. Her baby brother too- little darling monster. Such a pair of lungs he had to yell with. Mama said that was normal for three-month-olds.

Tears flooded out. She was glad for the strange boy beside her. He felt familiar already and she needed familiar so badly right now.

…...

 _Every night of my life_

 _I watch angels fall from the sky_

 _Every time that the sun still sets_

 _I pray they don't take mine_

 _ **~Shinedown**_

… _ **...**_

 **A/N: Good? Bad? A total letdown? I wrote it quickly but I hope it passes anyway. Wikia says the Girl's name is Marina, and I read that somewhere else too. Interesting, huh?**

 **But I invented Lumiera. :)**


	3. Part 3

**Disclaimer: hmm. Nope.**

 **Part 3**

 _Hey! It's like deja vu_

 _a suicidal maniac with nothing to loose_

 _so wait, it's the exception to the rule_

 _every one of us is expendable_

 ** _~Shinedown_**

They were chased by a forest fire the next day. It didn't catch them but Marvel could feel its heat heavy on his back as his group splashed down the creek, taste its angry black smoke.

When the inferno had rolled away and faded to nothing, leaving only a pungent lingering after-scent, the weary tributes climbed back onto dry ground. The Girl slipped on her way up the bank but he wasn't close enough to help her. When she caught up, he pointed at her cheek.

"Mud."

"Hm?" She touched the wrong side of her face. She looked adorable. Her hood had fallen forward over her shoulder, and long dark strands of hair were loosened, brushing her cheekbones. "Where?"

"Other side."

She rubbed at it with her palm, grimaced. "Did I get it all?"

He nodded. There was still a bit of grime there but it looked so cute on her cheek that he didn't mention it.

She sighed and brushed her dirty hands off on her damp trousers.

Marvel reached over and righted her hood. She looked surprised.

"Thanks."

"Sure. There's some on your chin too."

"Huh?" She swiped at the spot, then checked her hand. "I don't see anything."

He shrugged.

"Is it still there? Isn't it coming off?" She frowned, worried.

It tickled him, how they were in the middle of the Games, but that tiny little detail bugged her. Marvel studied the trees cheerfully.

She looked at him intently. "There's nothing on my chin, is there?"

Marvel couldn't help himself. He laughed.

"You connniving monkey," she said, disbelieving.

Then she delighted his very soul.

She socked him one.

… **...**

Now that the smoke had receded, he could see how sunny it was. Marvel liked sunshine. It made him unreasonably happy.

Obviously the effect was lost on Glimmer. She complained quite entirely as much as she had yesterday. He shut his ears and tuned her out; he was used to her and had had lots of practice with that sort of thing.

It seemed the others were getting the hang of it too. He kind of wanted to chuckle at that. Poor spoiled Glimmer. She stood no chance.

The endless hiking was rather boring. He teased Clove for a while. It was fun watching her mouth purse in annoyance and eyes sparkle ominously. But then she pushed him into the creek so he figured it would be best to give her some space. Plenty of it.

Marina was laughing at him over her shoulder as he climbed out of the water. Quietly, but he saw it. He grimaced at her.

Her lips curved up serenely. She didn't pity him, it was quite plain. He grinned and thoroughly shook his watered-down self.

"Don't get that on me!" yelped Glimmer as a flying drop landed on her nose. Her eyes crossed as she tried to see if there was mud marring her perfect face. It was a bright spot in his day.

"Shut up," said Cato, scowling. It didn't take much to irritate that guy. Nor did he seem to get along with Glimmer very well, but then, who did?

The group resumed their former silence. Marvel sighed a bit. Marching toward your imminent death was just a trifle depressing.

He refused to think about it.

He looked at Marina instead.

She had tried to smooth down her loose hair but not to much effect. It feathered softly in the occaisional breeze.

She didn't look around much, but she didn't stare straight forward and march like Clove either. Mostly she looked down. Thinking.

Seemingly she thought a lot. It occurred to him to wonder what her family was like. Where did she really come from?

If he were to guess, he'd say she had a nice mother. Because she was so polite. It facsinated him. Politeness wasn't over-practiced in District One.

Especially not toward him.

… **...**

It became night again. They ate a rabbit Clove had killed, after a big fruitless attempt to shake the girl from Twelve out of a tree. In the end she sat up there smugly while they had their supper.

Levels of crossness and crankiness had highly escalated in the last half hour. Cato was particularly bitter.

Marvel avoided him when possible.

After a while they'd all bedded down. Except Glimmer, who had guard duty. And Marina, who sat staring into the smoke of their dead fire. And Marvel, who sat staring at Marina.

Presently, slowly, she looked up, and smiled a little through the darkness upon noticing him.

"You thinking?" he asked.

She nodded. A small patch of moonlight fell through the leaves above and landed on top of her head, making the hair shimmer.

There was about a yard of space between them. He studied it, chin on crossed arms on knees, and wondered if he could move closer inconspiciouly.

Probably not. He did anyway, but only about a foot.

She glanced at him but said nothing. She looked tired.

"You look tired," he said. He wouldn't presume to tell her to go to sleep though. She might get annoyed.

She didn't answer, just looked down.

"You have a nice mother?"he asked. Spur of the moment random ridiculousness as usual.

Again no answer. She stared at him. Then he caught a sniffle.

Uh oh. No. Mentally he bludgeoned himself. _Wrong, wrong, wrong._ Quick, think of something else. "Maybe you should go to bed?"

Oh. No. That was awful. What was wrong with him? She still hadn't made a peep. He was pretty sure she was looking at him though. With disgust.

He gritted his teeth. "I'm sorry." He sighed. "Just ignore me. I'm an idiot." With a wince he buried his face in his hands. Waiting for her to agree.

"You're not," she said

He looked up, startled.

"Why do you think you're stupid?" She cocked her head at him. "You're not."

"I'm not?" he echoed slowly.

She shook her head, meeting his eyes. "You're not."

"Not what?" _Say it again. Please..._

"You're not an idiot, Marvel."

"You're sure?" He sounded lost, stupid, even to himself. This was a foreign language, one he'd never heard spoken before.

"That's my very accurate take." She grinned a bit. "I'd bet on it."

His eyes were definitely stinging. "Come here?" He held out his arms.

She got into them with very little effort.

He held her very tightly. For a rather long time they were quiet under the leaves and the stars. She held him just as tightly.

Eventually his grip loosened just a fraction and he leaned his cheek down against hers. "You feel good."

She tipped up her face to see him. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

She smiled against his chin.

"Sleep now?" he asked, and she nodded.

They fell asleep facing each other, curled up, fingers, knees, and foreheads touching.

… **...**

The next night he sat alone on a beach and looked at her face in the sky.

Tracker jackers.

He hadn't moved fast enough. He hadn't been able to find her in the frenzy.

She was gone.

He'd helped Clove to safety, and Cato, because they weren't so bad and he didn't want to be alone.

But she was gone.

He guessed he was an idiot after all.

… **...**

He was numb. Vaguely he thought that it was a pity about Glimmer; she was like the ultra mean big sister he'd never had.

He stumbled into the woods, crying for the first time. He cried on Clove's shoulder and she patted his back.

She didn't call him an idiot but he couldn't care. It didn't matter anymore. Clove couldn't change who he was.

Only one person... She was gone.

Several days passed, long days. He was swinging between worlds. Sometimes he felt normal for one, two minutes. Sometimes he forgot.

But that was worse than anything, because then he remembered again. And remembering was killing him slowly on the inside, like the steady, gradual turning of an arrowhead in his chest.

Sometimes he could have sworn he saw her. Then he would blink and it was just a tree, or a bush, or Clove. And then he tried not to cry.

That was pretty difficult.

… **...**

He wasn't sure why he threw the spear at the dark little pixie girl. Some voice in his head told him to. A voice from back in District One, vaguely familiar.

It caught in her chest. He saw blood. Blood was ugly. She cried out and he was sorry. He wanted to say so, but he could only look.

Stupidly.

Then he could only watch the arrow flying at him and then he was choking.

 _I am...an idiot._

It was not such a nice sensation, all hot and suffocating and falling.

 _I ...am...an..._

And spinning. He was definitely spinning. _Bet...on...it..._

 _Idiot._

Then the prickly red haze before his eyes became black and soft. _I am..._ It was still spinning, _...not..._ but slowly.

 _...an idiot._

Then, it all just stopped.

… **...**

Light. It surrounded him.

He saw a gate so he opened it- it went easily- and entered.

Time. It stopped, sparkled, and ceased to be.

There was an old man talking to someone. Both turned and the old man said, "I believe he belongs to you."

Marvel looked into the Girl's dark eyes.

She was shining.

"I believe so," she said, gently.

… **...**

… **...**

She marveled at the feeling of familiarity, the sensation of rightness. As if something had been found that was missing, as if she had come home.

"So this is life after life," he commented, looking around then back down at her. They sat cross-legged, side by side, in the surreally lush grass.

She nodded, smiled. "A little shoddy but it'll do fine."

They simultaneously glanced at the castles, the gardens, the fruit trees, all doused in that light, looked at each other, and laughed.

She found his hand and held it. "I'm glad you came home," she said.

The rest of her family would be here.

Later.

For now, they walked the orchards hand in hand.

And there was no fear.

… **...**

 _Don't worry, I'll be fine,_

 _The story is just beginning_

 _I say goodbye to my weakness,_

 _so long to the regrets_

 _And now I see the world through diamond eyes_

 _ **~Shinedown**_

… _ **...**_

 **A/N: That's it for Marvel's story. I miss him already. Tell me how I did, please? Also, all quotes are taken from the song Diamond Eyes, by Shinedown. It's awesome, check it out!**


End file.
